Skimming ladle



Jan. 9, 1951 L. NovloN 2,537,848

sK`IMMING LADLE Filed Dec. 2o, 1948 ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 9, 1951 SKIMMING L'DLE Lucien Navion, Honolulu, Territory -.of Hawaii, assigner of one-half to @laf Dswald, 'Honolulu,

Territory of Hawaii ApplicationvDecember 20, -1948,`Serial No. 66,313

'3 Claims. 1

This invention relates -to a skimming ladle employed, for example, in connection with dispensing soup.

The 'body of soup in lthe cooking kettle is usually overlain by a layer f molten fat which it is not desirable to serve with the soup.

The present invention provides a skimming ladle by means of which the fat may be separated from the soup. The fat is usually conserved by pouring it into a collecting vessel, permitting it to solidify, and accumulating it from day to day until a suiiicient quantity has been obtained to constitute a salable unit. The presence of soup in the fat is undesirable, since the soup spoils more readily than the fat and oontaminates the fat. Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is slanted toward producing a soup free fat.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a skimming ladle having a partition which partially occlvdes the open top of the ladle, so constructed and arranged as to act as a dam when the ladle is tilted for holding back the heavier liquid, and permitting the overow of the fat.

Another object of the invention is to provide a ladle as described, in which the partition is located a short distance below the plane of the open end of the ladle so that should a small amount of the soup ow over the dam through over tilting of the ladle, it will be retained by the portion of the rim of the ladle above said partition. acting as a rile.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawing which forms a part of the specificationand throughout the several iigures of which the same reference characters have been used to denote identical parts:

Figure l is a side elevation of the ladle;

Figure 2 is a top plan View;

Figure 3 is a vertical section in a plane parallel to the direction of tilt of the ladle, the latter being shown in level position with respect to the liquid in the cooking kettle;

Figure 4 is a vertical section in a plane parallel to the direction of tilt of the ladle, the latter being tilted in the direction to discharge the fat.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, the ladle I, as shown, comprises a bowl 2, having the shape of a section of a hollow sphere, the free edge 3 lying in a single plane. A handle 4 is attached to the bowl Z, perpendicular to the plane 2 `of the edge Y3 andhas an outwardly turned ngerhold 5 at its upper end.

-A planiform `partition E is secured within the 'bowl v2 in a lplane parallel to the plane of the'edge 3 and slightly below said edge. Said partition is the segment of a circle having its acute edge secured in fluid tight manner to the rim of the bowl. In the illustrated embodiment, the free edge l is rectilinear, coinciding with the diameter of the bowl in the plane of the partition and perpendicular to the handle 4.

In the employment of this ladle one cannot, of course, expect all users to follow a stereotype technique in using it to obtain the desired result. The preferred way would be to immerse the ladle in the liquid body to the level position approximately as shown in Figure 3, so as to dip a serving of soup with incidentally some supernatant fat. The ladle is then removed from the body of liquid. Then it is tilted to the position shown in Figure 4 and the fat discharged into the collecting vessel, not shown. The rectilinear edge 'l of the partition serves as a guide to the eye in keeping the ladle level in a front to back direction so as to accomplish even skimming of the fat from the soup in the ladle. When the lower level b of the fat (Figure ll) reaches the edge 'l of the partition, it may be that a little soup will run over said edge before the operator has time to check the flow by tilting up the ladle. This soup is caught by the part 9 of the rim,'which projects above the partition 6 and does not spill over into the fat collecting vessel.

The ladle is then tilted in the opposite direction, dispensing the substantially fat freed soup into a suitable container. Y

While the spherical shape of the bowl of the ladle is optimum, in creating minimum turbulence when it is immersed in the body of liquid in the kettle 8, the invention is not limited to a bowl of this shape, and while the invention has been disclosed specifically in its relation to the dispensing of soup. it is obvious that it is equally useful in separating any relatively light liquid from a relatively heavy liquid, when it is desired that the light liquid, after separation, shall not be contaminated with small amounts of the heavy liquid.

What I claim as my .invention is:

1. SkimmirrT ladle comprising a bowl having a mouth-defining free edge lying in a single plane, a flat partition closing part of the mouth of said bowl, said partition being below the plane of said mouth-defining edge and parallel thereto, having a peripheral edge coinciding with the adjacent side of said bowl through a substantial perimetrical extent of said side making a fluid tight joint therewith, and having rectilinear free edge extending across said bowl bridging the ends of said joint, said ladle including a handle secured to said bowl for tilting said bowl. 2. Skimming ladle comprising Va bowl of spherical curvature having a free edge lying in a single plane, a at partition within said bowl slightly below said free edge lying in a plane parallel to the plane of said free edge, said partition having the shape of the segment of a circle, with its arcuate edge making a fluid tight joint with said bowl and its chord edge extending across said bowl, and a handle secured to said bowl at one end of said chord edge, extending perpendicularly to the plane of said free edge.

3. skimming ladle comprising a bowl having a mouth-deiining free edge lying in a single plane, a fiat partition closing part of the mouth of said bowl, said partition being below the plane of said mouth dening edge and parallel thereto, having a peripheral edge coinciding with the adjacent side of said bowl throughout a substantial perimetrical extent of said side making a uid tight joint therewith, and having a rectilinear free edge extending across said bowl bridging the ends of said joint, said ladle including a handle secured to said bowl at a point in a medial plane through said bowl parallel to said rectilinear edge and perpendicular to said partition.

LUCIEN NOVION.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 753,728 Nyce Mar. 1, 1904 1,010,795 Pfaff Dec. 5, 1911 2,008,254 Kueche July 16, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 252,798 Italy Apr. 14, 1927 

